Leadership Skills for Managers

Leaders are typically the figureheads of an organization and for good reason. Workers depend on a strong management team to coordinate and ensure that everyone else knows their job role. While in many cases this coordination involves overall strategic planning, it is important to also make room for the many soft skills that are generally found in great leaders. Technical training is helpful, but it is often the case that your soft skills are what inspire others to work. There are many desirable leadership skills for managers to sharpen that will help them become more effective, inspirational leaders.

5 Examples of Leadership Skills for Managers

The following are examples of leadership skills for managers to exemplify.

Communication

One of the most important skills of a leader is the ability to communicate effectively. While the ability to strategize is also crucial, strategies are nothing without a team that understands how to carry them out. It is a leader’s responsibility to ensure that the team both understands the tasks at hand and is motivated enough to give it their full attention.

Awareness

A strong leader should also have an eye on the business process to learn which ideas are effective and which less so. In a sense, leadership depends on the ability to observe and to learn. If teams are not performing as well as they should, a leader should have the ability to figure out why and address the issue accordingly. Similarly, a leader must be aware of how businesses change over time and whether any industry-wide innovations could potentially affect competition or production.

Honesty and Integrity

Great leaders are not exclusively those who solely get results. Rather, leaders must also command respect and trust by being forthright with their employees and the greater industry of which they are a part. Teams may not always like what a leader has to say, but if the message is honest, they will often appreciate knowing the truth, rather than being fed lies and excuses. Ideally, a strong leader should also possess the ability to deliver harder truths diplomatically so as not to alienate workers.

Relationship Building

For some people, it may seem like business is primarily about some form of production. However, production can proceed more efficiently when team members trust and work well with each other. In this sense, business is about networking and relationships. It is a leader’s role to encourage healthy working relationships between team members, clients, producers, other managers and the community at large. When employees trust each other and the business as a whole, the entire organization stands to benefit significantly.

Innovation

Strong leaders are typically creative and recognize when changes could improve the workflow. As well-planned as a business process can be, it will inevitably encounter some obstacle to overcome. An innovative leader is someone who takes responsibility for these obstacles and creates a path toward bringing the work back to its intended expectation.

How to Develop Leadership Skills

It is sometimes said that great leaders are born, not made. While some people do undoubtedly contain a certain ability to connect with and inspire others, leadership skills can also be nurtured and developed.

By learning to listen, to take initiative, to understand when your instincts should be trusted and to discipline yourself, you stand to improve your role as a leader. The skills mentioned in this article are, additionally, those that can benefit from practice and training, allowing anyone cast in a leadership role to excel in his or her position.